With pre-season returning for Newcastle United, Geordie Boot Boys looks back on a time when Sir Bobby Robson fumed at one of his players during a summer friendly.
Robson is of course a Newcastle United legend, managing the club between 1999 and 2004.
He oversaw a generally successful time of things at St James’ Park, steering the club away from a relegation battle before building a fine team who qualified for the Champions League.
Back in the summer of 2003, a year before Robson was sacked by Newcastle, his team were out in Asia to contest the Premier League Asia Cup. That competition is now known as the Premier League Asia Trophy.
Newcastle had beaten Birmingham in the semi-finals and were squaring off against Chelsea in the final. The Blues had just been taken over but were held to a stalemate in the final, which led to a penalty shootout.
Jermaine Jenas stepped up during the shootout and eventually angered Robson beyond belief.
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Jermaine Jenas panenka attempt angered Sir Bobby Robson
The Blues were winning 5-4 on penalties before Jenas stepped up to take Newcastle’s final attempt.
Alan Shearer and Lauren Robert had both missed for Newcastle, though it was Jenas who would make headlines.
The former Newcastle midfielder attempted an audacious ‘panenka’ attempt, where a player tries to chip the goalkeeper down the middle of the goal once he dives.
Jenas, however, got his execution all wrong and blazed his effort over the bar, gifting Chelsea the victory.
Meaningless pre-season friendly or not, Robson was furious. He told Sky Sports: “All players have the right to take penalties the way they think. I never complain about players who miss penalties, I lost a semi-final of a World Cup on that sort of situation.
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“I’ve got nothing but the deepest of sympathies for players who miss penalties.
“But in JJ’s case, I think that’s outrageous, and I told him so. He’s a young player and it’s obscene what he’s done, you can’t do that.
“I’ve spent time and time and time and time with them every day in training, shooting and stuff like that.
“So, he’s made a mistake. He has to learn from that and I’ve told him it in no uncertain fashion. What he’s done, for me, is unprofessional.
“But he’ll learn from it because he’s a very good boy and he’s been part of an excellent Newcastle United side.”
How Jermaine Jenas feels about failed panenka attempt
Jenas has given his view of his failed panenka penalty attempt for Newcastle and did put the whole thing into context.
Indeed, when asked about the miss on Twitter, Jenas claimed he was losing no sleep about the situation.
Jenas scored his penalty in a much more important game a few weeks later, albeit Newcastle lost the game.
It was a Champions League qualifier against Partizan Belgrade in August 2003. Newcastle had won the away leg 1-0 but fell to defeat at St James’ Park by the same scoreline.
The game went to penalties and while Jenas scored his, Newcastle lost 3-4 and were duly condemned to the UEFA Cup that season. They reached the semi-final but lost to Marseille, who were beaten by Valencia in the final.
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